Stuart Hughes
Stuart Hughes is an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President Laura Montez to succeed the late Justice Tenny on March 13, 2018. Prior to this, he served as the 44th President of the United States from 2013 until 2016, when he became the second U.S. president to resign from office. He also served as the governor of Michigan before becoming President. Hughes' image began to falter in 2014 following the Uzbek Hostage Crisis, in which several American hostages were held against their will for months in Uzbekistan. It was later revealed that one of the hostages was a spy and Hughes knew about this. To divert attention away from this, Hughes shutdown the Government in 2015. Facing certain impeachment, Hughes announced he would not seek re-election in 2016. He resigned on January 24, 2016, to take care of his wife, who tried to commit suicide a month prior. To drive home the fact of his relative unimportance in the scope of the series, in contrast to his presumed power due to position, Hughes has never been seen (apart from a very brief moment in Hostages) and is most commonly referred to as "POTUS". He is a member of the Democratic Party. Prior to Presidency Although Hughes served as Michigan Governor, he may have been been born in or grew up in California, as his Presidential Library is located in Riverside. Considering he is later nominated as a Supreme Court Justice, it can be assumed that Hughes has a history practicing law. Governor of Michigan As described in Selina's memoir A Woman First: First Woman, Hughes served as Governor of Michigan. Hughes had a reputation of someone one would want to have a beer with, and had solid support of the "donor class" during his run for the presidency. Selina described him as resembling a "fossil", and claimed one of the reasons she joined him on the ticket was that she would look better by comparison. When it came to Hughes' wife Edna, the Hughes campaign would assert that she was an "extremely private person" and rarely made any appearances during her husbands term as governor of Michigan other than the annual Governor's Easter Egg hunt, where Selina described Edna as having to "sober up" once a year for that occasion. 2012 presidential campaign With the previous President unable to run for re-election again, Hughes announced he would run in the 2012 presidential election. Edna Hughes' few campaign appearances allgedly ended with her being hustled off stage by her husband, leading to speculation that Hughes was a sexist. Hughes was successful in the Democratic 2012 primaries. Months before the 2012 Democratic National Convention, Hughes approached Maryland Senator Selina Meyer, who also run in the primaries, about possibly being his running mate. This discussion was hostile. Hughes and Meyer would accept the Democratic nomination at the Convention, held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In the general election, Hughes relied heavily on his senior strategist, Kent Davison, who played an active role in making Selina seem more familial with her ex-husband Andrew Meyer. The Hughes-Meyer ticket would end up victorious on election night. Presidency (2013 - 2016) Main article: Presidency of Stuart Hughes President Hughes was inaugurated on January 20th 2013, with a public swearing-in held on January 21 because the 20th was a Sunday. In 2013, Hughes took a trip to South Africa, where he suffered heart issues, briefly allowing Vice President Selina Meyer to become Acting President. President Stuart Hughes and Vice President Selina Meyer have a tenuous relationship. Selina feels left out of the governing process most of the first season, only getting the President's worst assignments at the same time seeing her pet projects crushed for other parts of the President's agenda. Selina's distance from the President seems to hit a maxim when she finds out he went golfing with political rival Governor Danny Chung and fears the President will replace her on the reelection ticket, fears that were confirmed by Andrew Doyle in Season 5, claiming that Hughes was seriously considering dropping Selina from the ticket if he ran again in 2016. According to Selina's memoir, one of Hughes' achievements as President was welcoming the Pope to America. In the 2014 midterm elections, the Democrats do poorly, losing the House but maintaining control of the Senate, putting Hughes' legislative agenda in a deep freeze. President Hughes' notices that Selina has a 0.9% lead over him campaign-wise; as a result, he gives her more authority in foreign policy, starting with a Hostage Crisis in Uzbekistan. As the Uzbek Hostage Crisis unfolds, the hostages are returned safely. It is revealed that Hughes had knowledge that one of the hostages was a spy, endangering the lives of the other hostages who weren't spies. After VP Selina Meyer and House Majority Leader Mary King make a deal that will prevent the Government from shutting down, at the last minute Hughes stalls on the deal and the Government shuts down as an act to draw attention away from the spy scandal. Meanwhile, there is news that a challenger will fight Hughes for the nomination in 2016 as he is growing more and more toxic within his own party, with key figures like Chung, Doyle, and Furlong turning against him. Impeachment talks grow as well due to the Spy Scandal, with the Senate and the House after Hughes. In June 2015, Hughes made it official he would not run for re-election in 2016. In September 2015, Hughes reversed his position on abortion, prompting the candidates in the 2016 Democratic primaries, including Selina, to reflect on their own stances on the issue. In December 2015, Edna Hughes attempted to take her own life by overdosing on sleeping pills, but the situation was kept from the public. After about a month of declining health, Hughes decided to devote more time to care for her. On January 24, 2016, Hughes resigned as President of the United States, with the first lady being admitted to a hospital. Vice President Selina Meyer took the oath of office and assumed the position as President. Post-Presidency (2016 - present) Following his resignation, Hughes took care of his wife, who had attempted to kill herself the month prior. In Omaha, two years later, it is revealed that his memoir has fetched an advance of $20 million. The Stuart Hughes Presidential Library and Museum In Library, Selina attended the opening of The Stuart Hughes Presidential Library and Museum, which opened in January 2018 and is located in Riverside, California. They filmed this at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. Tenure as Supreme Court Justice (2018 - present) On March 13, 2018, Hughes was nominated by President Laura Montez to replace Supreme Court Justice Tenny. In A Woman First: First Woman, it was confirmed that Hughes' confirmation went through. At Selina Meyer's funeral in 2045, Hughes is not mentioned to have been there. Considering Selina referenced Hughes' age in her biography, it is possible that Hughes died before Selina. Trivia -His not appearing may be a reference to The Thick of It, a British show that is similar to Veep, also created by Armando Iannucci, where the Prime Minister remains unseen throughout the show's 4 seasons. -In 2014, Armando Iannucci claimed that he would choose Arnold Schwarzenegger to play the then-unnamed POTUS. -Ben claims that Hughes is a fan of the film "Full Metal Jacket". -Selina claims that Hughes has never picked up a book in his life. -Hughes is catholic, as revealed in A Woman First: First Woman. -Hughes is briefly seen in Hostages and in a photo in The Vic Allen Dinner, in the situation room surveying the Uzbek Hostage Crisis. He is noted by Selina and Kent to look "jowly". In the DVD commentary for the episode, the crew joked that Hughes probably would never appear again because they don't know the names of the extras in the scene. -The original storyline for the Veep finale was that, instead of Tom Hanks dying, it was going to be Hughes dying, overshadowing Selina one last time. David Mandel also claimed in an interview that Tom Hanks would have been his choice to portray Hughes, and that he would have made a photographic appearance in the Library episode. See also * Presidency of Stuart Hughes Offices and distinctions Category:Characters Category:Minor characters Category:Presidents Category:Unseen characters Category:Democrats Category:Supreme Court Justices